REQUIREMENTS TO BECOME A NOTARY

Any resident citizen or alien of the state, 18 years of age or older, may be appointed a notary public in and for the parish in which they reside provided that they meet the requirements established by Louisiana R.S.35:191.

Notary applicants must be qualified by the Secretary of State’s Office and, unless licensed to practice law in Louisiana, must complete the Notary Exam Pre-Assessment as well as take and pass the state notary exam. The pre-assessment is online and must be completed before an applicant can register for the state notary exam. The pre-assessment is mandatory but only needs to be taken once.

UPDATE: NEXT LOUISIANA NOTARY EXAM SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 2024

Examination Date: March 02, 2024 (Additional date March 16, 2024, if capacity exceeded)

Pre-Assessment Deadline: January 25, 2024

Registration Deadline: February 01, 2024

Registration will open: Pre-assessment registration and Notary Exam Registration are now open.

Click here for application information with the Louisiana Secretary of State

How to Qualify to Become a Louisiana Notary

To become an applicant, you are required to complete an Application to Qualify. To qualify, you must:

• • be registered to vote in the parish in which you seek commission;
  • be a resident citizen or alien of this state;
  • not have been convicted of a felony and not been pardoned;
  • be able to read, write, speak and be sufficiently knowledgeable of the English language;
  • be 18 years of age or older; and
  • hold a high school diploma, a diploma for completion of a home study program approved by the State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education or a high school equivalency diploma issued after successfully completing the test of General Educational Development.

When your Application to Qualify is approved, you will receive an email containing your applicant ID and an access code to enable you to register online to take the mandatory Notary Exam Pre-Assessment. (If you have taken the pre-assessment, you proceed to register for the state notary exam.) When registration for the pre-assessment is complete, the LSU Center for Assessment and Evaluation will email you login instructions to complete the pre-assessment. Once the Notary Division of the LA Secretary of State receives your score, you will be able to register for the state notary exam. This test is an evaluation and does not require a passing score for you to register for the state notary exam.

Once you have received a score on the Notary Exam Pre-Assessment, you can register online to take the state notary exam. The deadline to get your Application to Qualify, Notary Exam Pre-Assessment and Examination Registration completed is 30 days prior to the exam. Please take note that the Application to Qualify must be approved by the Secretary of State’s Office and the Notary Exam Pre-Assessment registration and scoring process take approximately one week. It is, therefore, beneficial to the applicant to submit these well in advance of the deadline. The deadline to complete the Pre-Assessment is 37 days prior to the exam.